Dozens killed in Aleppo bomb blasts

At least 40 people were killed and 90 wounded in a series of explosions in the centre of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, citing medical sources.

State television Al-Ikhbariya TV said four blasts ripped through Aleppo's main Saadallah al-Jabiri Square and a fifth struck a few hundred metres away, on the fringes of the Old City where rebels and forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad have been fighting.

"Five minutes after the first explosion a second bomb exploded. A third exploded 10 minutes after that," a state television reporter said. "There was a fourth car bomb which exploded before engineering units could defuse it."

The channel showed footage of four dead men, including one dust-covered body being pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building and loaded onto the back of a pickup truck.

Many of the several storey high buildings on the square had their facades ripped off and a crater stood in the road.

State television said there had been many people killed in what it called "three terrorist explosions", but did not give a number. Ikhbariya earlier said two car bombs had been used in the attack.

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported tens of casualties from the bombs which it said exploded next to an officers club.

Fighting only with light weaponry, rebels have resorted to bomb attacks in areas still controlled by Mr Assad. Several large protests in support of the president have been held in Saadallah al-Jabari square.

A pro-Assad Lebanese paper said on Tuesday that he was visiting Aleppo to take a first-hand look at the fighting and had ordered 30,000 more troops into the battle. It said Mr Assad would remain in the city.

Opposition activists say 30,000 people have been killed in the 18-month-old anti-Assad uprising, which has grown into a full-scale civil war.

For much of the revolt, Mr Assad has retained a grip on Aleppo with many rich merchants and minority groups there fearful of instability, remaining neutral while protests spread.

Rebels mounted a new offensive last week to seize the city, and over the weekend fires started by the combat gutted the historic market in the Old City, a world heritage site.

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